Diesel x Hayden #BlackGirlMagic

1.1 Diesel Introduction

Owned and parented by OTB group, Diesel is an innovative international lifestyle
company that produces a wide-ranging collection of jeans, clothing and
accessories. Since its creation in 1978, Diesel has experienced extraordinary growth
and has evolved from being a leading pioneer in denim into the world of premium
casual wear, becoming a true alternative to the established luxury market
(Diesel.com, 2017).
Thriving on change: every new product is derived from a process of enormous
creative freedom, ensuring constant innovation. The apparel Diesel collections
include: Diesel, Diesel Black Gold and Diesel Kid. (Business of Fashion, 2015)
Diesel is not just apparel and denim: it’s a lifestyle, which has been interpreted
through licenses with leading brands to develop watches and jewellery, eyewear,
fragrances, helmets, strollers, and a complete Living Collection. Diesel is a truly
worldwide organization, present in more than 80 countries with 5,000 points of
sale, including over 400 mono-brand stores. (LinkedIn, 2017)
Renzo Rosso envisaged a brand that would stand for passion, individuality and
self-expression. Today, Diesel continues to blaze its own trail. It is on a continuing
mission to challenge the status quo, experiment with new ideas, innovate and
provoke. (Diesel.com, 2017)
Brand Tagline: “For Successful Living”

Product
Diesel provides a combination of traditional Italian styled denim alongside
menswear and womenswear clothing and accessories as well as children’s wear
titled “Diesel Kid”. Together with traditional highstreets retail, from 2007 to
present, Diesel provide its contemporary line: Diesel Black Gold. This line provides
edgy fashion to their “sophisticated international clientele” (Diesel Facebook,
2017). Through licencing, Diesel also provide “Diesel Living” – this includes home
accessories, lighting, furniture, kitchen, flooring and technical ceramics. These are
all explore-able, if not shop-able through their website (Diesel, 2017). Mintel is
seen to say that Diesel is a mid-market brand whilst offering the higher end and
luxury offerings (Mintel, 2015).

After analysing Diesel, I understood the brands mission to challenge the
status quo. Renzo Rosso himself envisaged Diesel as a brand that that
would stand for passion, individuality and self-expression. The SS16
campaign “Decoded By Diesel” really encapsulated this for me; the
models were being very true to Diesel values. What also caught my
attention was the “diversity” within the selected cast. Whilst a certain
aesthetic is not uncommon for high fashion brands, what struck a chord
was Rosso’s reflection on how much diversity he believed this campaign
to have:
“I want to portray the world we live in today, and the people in it – so it’s
very important that we have “different” genders, body types, colours,
that’s our norm.”
Whilst, by literal translation, his reflection was true, the aesthetics of said
model chosen lied closer to the popular consensus regarding idealised
versions beauty: Rosso did just enough to play his ’diversity’ card, and
played that card incredibly safe.

In response to this, I chose to create a fashion film that showcased whatof “different… body types (and) colours” looked like to a segment ofmillennials that Diesels marketing may be targets demographically, butdoes not reflect effectively, with its marketing material. I used similarcodes and conventions to that of traditional Diesel fashion films, such asthe use of hashtags, direct address, and similar mise en scène, ensuringthe iconography was similar of a typical Diesel fashion films. Togetherwith these aspects, I also, in similar Diesel fashion, capitalised on acurrent social tension of today: the issues surrounding Blackrepresentation in the media.

ENJOY THE VIDEO.

In January 2010 Diesel launched the “Be Stupid” campaign, a campaign that encouraged consumers to takerisks and move beyond the smart and sensible track for life. The campaign, developed by the advertisingagency ’Anomaly’, was backed by press ads, posters, digital and viral media activities, with models onoutdoor advertisements engaging in “stupid” acts (Mintel, 2010). The digital campaign was anchored by amusic video detailing the ”Be Stupid Philosophy”. The lyrical video featured colored lyrics on a blackbackdrop anchored by the indie band ‘We Have Band’ and their 2010 song “Honeytrap”. To promote thecollection for Spring/Summer 2010, the company launched the online music video on a dedicated websitefeaturing a number of its products (Mintel, 2010).

marketing as early as 2010 was a very brave move. In retrospect, it helped secure the brands ties to innovation and rebellion, enhancing the brands equity by being true to its values externally. In terms of the campaigns global reach, its can be said that the overall message may have fallen on deaf ears in some segments, due to the risqué nature of the campaign. According to Mintel, two of the posters were banned by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority in June 2010 for being unsuitable for children, offensive, and for encouraging anti-social behavior (Mintel, 2010).

The advertisement agency Anomaly had the following to say about the campaign:“Stupid is a wonderful thing. It’s a way of life. It’s how we (and) Diesel, think you should love. The world would be a muchhappier place if we were all a bit more stupid. The brief from Diesel was to spread Stupid and disrupt fashion, and renewDiesel’s rich history of rebellion.”Mintel reports that Diesel more than doubled its ad spend between 2006 and 2009. Diesel’s ads continueto be risqué with a humorous element. The company had also shifted its focus to viral and online marketingin 2010, with several of its promotions being launched on websites and social networks (Mintel, 2010).Through the campaign, Diesel has attempted to re-anchor the brands rebellious characteristic through thiscampaign, reestablishing the brands personality as fun, creative and provocative. In this way, Diesel hasattempted to engage with its target market directly through engaging with taboo social aspect among thetarget demographic. Diesel’s choice of tone for their campaign, and their choice to pioneer digital

It connotes the idea that this blanket campaign may have not been fully understood by other, more conservative nations. In regards to re-anchoring the brand, the campaign did well in fulfilling this objective, however Diesel failed to take into consideration the degrees of tolerance of other geographic locations, whereby allowing the campaign to be decoded in ways other than it was intended to be, working against the desired outcome of the campaign.

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Is #blackgirlmagic represented enough in the fashion industry?

Busy bee.

By Bolu Adebesin - creative BLOGGER

Diesel x Hayden #BlackGirlMagic

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